Belgian police find explosives and ISIL flag in house raid

Belgian police found an explosive device filled with nails, as well as chemicals and an ISIL flag when they raided a Brussels house Tuesday.

The raids came after rush-hour attacks ripped through Brussels’ Zaventem airport and a metro train Tuesday, killing at least 31. Police later raided houses across Belgium, including in the Brussels district of Schaerbeek.

“The home searches which have taken place in Schaerbeek led to the discovery of an explosive device containing, among other things, nails,” the Belgian federal prosecutor said in a statement. Investigators also discovered chemical products and an Islamic State flag, the statement said.

Earlier, police launched a manhunt for a suspect photographed in a hat and glasses pushing a luggage cart through the airport shortly before the blasts who police “suspected of being implicated” in the attacks. Police said the two men photographed with the suspect were suicide bombers killed in the explosions.

ISIL claimed responsibility for the Brussels attacks and said via its Amaq media outlet that its fighters carried out attacks against “a country participating in the international coalition against the Islamic State.”